


Confessions

by Asimplewriterlivingasimplelife2



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Abusive Sonia Kaspbrak, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Bisexual Richie Tozier, Crushes, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, God they're adorable, Love Confessions, M/M, Panic Attacks, Period-Typical Homophobia, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-08-23 21:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20225473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asimplewriterlivingasimplelife2/pseuds/Asimplewriterlivingasimplelife2
Summary: It's really not that easy to just forget about a crush that's been going on for years.





	1. Crushes

It’s one of those hot summer days, two months before the official start day of sophomore year. Eddie was riding his bike to Richie’s house, still heated about what his mother had to say about him today. She always complained and said all the bad was because his parents didn’t raise him right and it made him utter poison to Eddie. Today, in particular, she was a lot more focused on him being too touchy and was going in a direction that really started to rub Eddie in a worse way than usual. 

_ “Eddie Bear, you shouldn’t be associating with boys like him. I see how he looks at you.” _

Eddie’s mother was a very religious woman and had no idea Richie wasn’t the gay one. Eddie was completely sure of it after clearly hearing Richie constantly brag about sucking face with a ton of girls. Eddie, on the other hand, well he figured himself out in middle school when he found himself looking more at boys than girls. Eddie played his part to his mother for a little while, tried to force those thoughts out of his head simply because he was scared she’d send him away with a disgusted look on her face. He got older, saw how much she lied to him, and he started to crush extra hard on a certain boy that happened to be his best friend. 

Richie Tozier. 

Richie could make it hard to crush from afar, in secret, with how touchy he was. He could make it really hard when he called Eddie all of those annoyingly sweet pet names with that stupid grin on his face. Over the summer he still somehow grew a couple of more inches and his unruly curls were starting to get in his eyes. He was still lanky and even if he said he was going to go work out eventually, everyone knew it probably wasn’t true. He still has that trash mouth and gross sense of humor that Eddie somehow grew to find endearing. He’s always smiling even if he might be having a shitty day and somehow never learned that overconfidence in front of teachers was just going to keep earning him detentions. 

Beverly was the only one that knew about him liking boys, but even she didn’t really know about Richie. No one in the Loser’s Club knew about that and Eddie was completely fine with keeping it that way. If anything were to come out about Eddie having that stupid crush, his friendship with Richie was over. 

Eddie’s knocking on the door of the Tozier house and Richie opens the door with a smile on his face. He was wearing black shorts, a white shirt and an unbuttoned blue overshirt that had pineapples all of it. Eddie noticed fresh bandaids on his knees and clearly knew he was skateboarding again but was glad he didn’t break his new thick-framed black glasses again like he did a few months ago. 

“Eddie, my love, you made it!” 

They’re just hanging out again, maybe going out for ice cream later with the rest of the Club. Eddie steps into the house and is shocked about how quiet it is again. Richie’s mom was out with friends for the day and Richie’s dad was at work again. Even if they were home, Eddie couldn’t help but wonder if they’d really care about what Richie was doing. 

_ “It’s like they only see me when I’m sick, need new glasses or some other shit. Every other fucking time it’s like I’m just a ghost.” _

Even if Richie smiled through it, Eddie knew that disinterest when one of the few things that made Richie upset. 

They go to the kitchen, get the soda and chips before heading up to Richie’s room. Eddie notices the rock posters plastered all over his room, remembering Richie was really getting into that rebel rockstar phase lately. His room smelled a little like cigarettes but he surprisingly didn’t smell much like them like he usually did. Richie’s turning the station on his radio to play music for the background before he’s throwing some porn magazine on the floor. Eddie can’t help but be disgusted and it gets Richie to laugh, “That’s the one that has your mom in it Eds.” 

“Okay don’t call me that and second, you’re fucking gross.” 

Richie is looking in his drawer for something before pulling out a bottle of black nail polish with a gleeful smile. 

Eddie thought he was a little too overdramatic about it. After Richie started dressing in those ripped up jeans and band shirts, it was really much of a surprise when he came to school one day with black nails. Eddie thought it fit him well, real well, and Richie unknowingly seemed to be fueled by the attention he was stirring up when people noticed. 

“Want to paint my nails?” 

“Me?” 

Richie looked around his room for a second before pushing up his glasses again, “I don’t see any other cuties in my room.” 

Eddie helped his mom paint her nails a thousand times, he knew what he was doing. This was Richie though and Eddie could already feel the anxiety about his hands shaking too much and fucking things up. Richie was making it hard to focus and this was just another confusing message Eddie was failing to understand. 

“Do you want to gossip also? Like a bunch of girls?” 

“Sounds like fun Eddie Spaghetti.” 

“Richie, stop!” 

Eddie takes a drink from that soda his mom would yell at him for having before laying on the floor with Richie. Richie extends his hand out on the magazine and Eddie has the bottle of nail polish in his hands. It honestly wasn’t that big of a deal, it’s really not until Eddie feels something anxious growing within him. They’re too close, Richie’s now looking at him with a soft smile and things just seem way too easy to ruin. 

What if he spilled it on the carpet? Those stains were impossible. 

He’s shaking now, what if he fucks up really bad? 

“Eddie?” 

Richie’s looking at him scared now, really concerned. 

Eddie told himself that he was fine with being just friends with Richie. If Eddie really had to keep those feelings and a part of himself under wraps until maybe they were in college, he forced himself to be fine with it. There were times that were easy and there were times like this when Eddie had to just run away to the bathroom to hide because he really couldn’t breathe. 

Richie somehow in seconds is holding an inhaler in his hands, one that clearly doesn’t have any medicine in it, and he’s holding it up to Eddie’s lips. Eddie knew he didn’t need it but his body reacted almost instantly when Richie pushed the button. 

_ “Luckily you’ll have me to save you.” _

“Just breathe Eddie.” 

No stupid nicknames, just harsh breathing and a song Eddie didn’t know the name of playing in the background. 

When Eddie feels like he can breathe again, his face is hot and his eyes are burning. Richie sits down next to him quietly, stretching his legs out and looking up at one of the posters on his walls. They’re quiet for a while before Eddie winces at how choked up his voice sounds, “You still kept the extra inhaler.” 

Eddie looks over at Richie and sees him looking back with a small smile on his face, “Well yeah, of course, I did.” 

“It’s fake.” 

“Yeah I know but it helped you now didn’t it Eds?” 

“Stop calling me that and yeah...thanks.” 

There’s silence and Eddie wishes they could just get back to what they were doing before. Eddie could do Richie’s nails, they could talk shit about people they’d have to see again when school started, maybe go out for ice cream and then go back home to his bad-mouthing mother. 

Eddie clearly can’t do it anymore. This has been a war inside of him for too long and he’s going to have to come clean. He’s going to have to tell him about himself and that stupid crush, even if their friendship could be over. 

“Eddie...are you crying?” 

He’s crying? 

Eddie feels Richie snake a long arm around his shoulders and pulls him in for a tight hug. There’s silence, Eddie’s crying and then Richie finally decides to ask with concern clear in his voice, “You want to tell me what’s wrong?” 

“I-It’s stupid.” 

“I doubt it Eddie Spaghetti.” 

Eddie swallows that lump in his throat, still leaning into Richie’s chest. He hates how his voice cracks and sounds pathetically small, “D-Do you remember when you dared me to kiss Lucy Acosta in the boy's bathroom on the last day of school?”

Eddie’s expecting him to laugh just like he did two weeks after that whole ordeal happened but he’s quiet. His grip around Eddie gets a little tighter, “Yeah. I remember.” 

“I was grossed out from the bathroom, obviously, but the kiss didn’t make me feel anything at all.” 

“She’s a total bitch, that makes sense.” 

Eddie felt those tears building up a lot worse in his eyes as he let out a shaky breath, “Rich it’s not because of that. I... I um...I-I don’t like girls.”

“Oh.” 

Eddie closes his eyes tightly, bracing for the impact of Richie completely getting pissed off. He was ready for something terrible but instead, there was a whole lot of silence and music before Richie finally said something, “That’s what has you so sad?” 

What fucking else could go wrong? 

“No. My stupid crush on you does.” 

Did he really just say that? 

Immediately he’s staggered to his feet away from Richie like he’s been burned, rubbing at his face harshly. 

“I-I’ve got to go.” 

“Eddie, wait!” 

Eddie really doesn’t want to see his reaction as he’s running down the stairs and almost makes it to the door until there’s a gentle grip on his arm. It’s not painful and Eddie could probably still run away if he pulled hard enough, but it is enough to get him to stay. 

“Eds, please just look at me for a sec?” 

Eddie has his eyes averted to the ground for the longest time, the scenery still watery from those humiliation tears that just won’t stop. Eddie slowly looks up to meet Richie’s eyes not really expecting the expression on his face. 

Richie doesn’t look mad. He’s giving Eddie a smile and maybe his eyes are looking a little watery too. 

“Do you see me, Eddie?” 

Eddie’s voice sounded choked, “A-Always.” 

“Do I look mad?” 

“No...but I mean you should-” 

“Let’s go sit down for a minute...please?” 

Eddie could have bolted for the door right now but he followed Richie to the living room couches, sitting down a little bit too far now. He had a headache now, his cheeks burned from all the running and those tears wouldn’t stop coming. 

The dam broke and boy was he fucked now. 

Richie looks like he’s about to cry too as he’s doing his best to keep a smile on his face, “You know I hate it when you cry Eddie Spaghetti, you just make me cry.” 

Eddie watches him take off his glasses, wipe a hand over his face before putting them back on and taking a heavy breath. He’s still trying to give him a comforting smile and that look in his eyes is anything but the anger that Eddie thought would be there. 

“I kinda already guessed.” 

“W-What?” 

“Call it an instinct from a boy that also likes boys himself, but I kind of knew you already had a thing for boys. I kept teasing you about sucking face with girls all the time because I thought it’d be weird to ask when it’s your business. Plus you did kiss Lucy in the bathroom, so I thought that’d be like a thousand times more fucking awkward if it turned out I was wrong.” 

Richie...liked boys?

Eddie looked at him confused and more than anything shocked, “You like boys?” 

“Yeah.” 

“What about Vicki?” 

“We aren’t dating or anything, I don’t know what you heard. She’s hot, every girl is hot and damn can some of them kiss. I’m into it but here’s the thing, I think I like guys and girls.” 

He looked over at Eddie with that same grin slowly coming to his face. The tears miraculously stopped probably because of all that shock Eddie was feeling right now at this moment. Maybe there really was a chance at something, if Richie really did like both guys and girls. 

“How do you know?”

Eddie’s sees Richie laugh a little as he looks over at Eddie and points to his head, “Imagination Eds, it helps me think about my crush and keep things fresh with your mom.” 

“Really not the time Richie, that’s disgusting. Wait, you have a crush on someone?”

Eddie took Richie as the guy to always just do what he wants. Hopelessly crushing on someone was too chicken for Richie and usually, he just liked to jump straight to the point. Eddie clearly saw that when he dragged plenty of girls from class out to the bleachers or when he decided flirting was a whole lot better than doing his math assignments. 

Richie gave him a nod, “Yep. I do. I’ve had a crush for a while now.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Exact words I thought when you said you liked me. I mean there’s plenty of fish in the sea and you choose me?” 

Eddie swallowed the lump in his throat, not really sure if he was really ready to go into arguing with Richie that he was just perfect. 

“Richie-” 

“You going to ask me who it is?” 

Eddie let out a small sigh only really thinking of the girls Richie’s mentioned in the past, “Is it Stacy?” 

“Tall blonde Stacy? Hot, but definitely not my type.” 

“You have a type?” 

Richie laughed a little and shrugged, “Yeah everyone does Eddie. My type is a nice person, short, has a really cute smile, and always dresses up in bright colors. Brown hair and dark eyes. They care a lot about me, call me out on my bullshit, and always know how to really make me feel better.” 

Even if Eddie knew he liked both guys and girls at this point, he couldn’t help but feel his heart sink. Richie was closer to him not with a smug smile on his face as Eddie tried to play it cool, “That’s a really specific girl Rich.” 

“Still on about girls? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention they’re a boy.” 

Richie was still smiling and somehow every piece of the puzzle suddenly clicked in Eddie’s head. He felt his air leave his chest, in a good way, and a flush come straight up to his cheeks. His stomach was in knots and he suddenly felt almost too hot. 

It’s him. 

“Wait...it’s me?” 

Richie’s so close again as he nods with that cheesy grin on his face, “Yeah Eddie Spaghetti, my type is you.” 

Eddie could see the blush on Richie’s cheeks as he lightly shrugged with that smile still on his face, “I mean I’ve liked you for a while now, maybe since that first time we met? I didn’t really know if you for sure liked boys at the time or even would like a guy like me, so I tried to forget all about it by sucking face with a bunch of girls. Clearly, though, it’s not that easy to just put aside a crush.” 

“You were flirting.” 

“Maybe a little too openly for something I was trying to keep a secret but you’re such a cutie, I couldn’t help myself.” 

Something was going to change right now. They were way too close to each other and even if Eddie had only kissed one girl lightly in a disgusting public bathroom, he wanted to kiss Richie real bad. Eddie was sure he looked like a tomato, “You’re the perfect guy for me Rich.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. Fuck yeah, you are.” 

Eddie felt Richie’s warm hand on his face and he was even closer than before. There was a small smile on his face as Eddie heard him whisper, “Can I kiss you?” 

Eddie could only manage a nod. When it happened, Eddie felt like fireworks literally went off in his whole body. He lost track of time and everything just felt a good kind of warm. It was completely fucking perfect and Eddie finally felt that rush he failed to feel with Lucy in that bathroom. He wasn’t sure how long they were doing it until they pulled away. Eddie was out of breath and Richie had that big grin on his face, “Wowza! That was really good Eds.” 

“Stop calling me that and yeah...it was. It felt, right.” 

“A total rush?” 

“Yeah...total rush.” 

Richie was still close and he pushed up his glasses looking a little curious, "Do you want to make this a thing?” 

Honestly, Eddie really didn’t care about any of the Losers knowing anymore. His mother, well she didn’t like Richie coming over, so it’d be easy to keep it all under wraps. 

Eddie also just really happened to like the idea of having Richie for a boyfriend. 

“Yeah, hell yes we can make this a thing.” 

Richie was pulling him into a tight hug and planted a kiss on his cheek, “Alright! Now I get to kiss my favorite cutie-pie whenever I want!” 

Somehow they got back to kissing on the couch, Richie doesn't seem to care that his parents could come in at any point. They were making out, Richie’s glasses on the table and Eddie pinned to the couch for some time. Eddie was in heaven and Richie eventually pulled away for a breather and a question, “Want to go get ice cream?” 

“With everyone else?” 

“I kinda just want to go with my boyfriend right now, if that’s okay with you?” 

Eddie couldn’t help the big smile that came to his face, “What about your nails?” 

“Plenty of time to do them when we come back.” 

“Okay. Then let’s go...boyfriend.” 

Richie grabs his glasses and hops off of Eddie, getting his worn-out hightops on in record speed. Eddie’s smiling just as bright as him, feel butterflies in his stomach when Richie interlaces his fingers with his and pulls him out the door. 

They both hop on their bikes, grinning like total idiots as they’re riding to the ice cream parlor and Eddie really can’t stop repeating that word in his head. 

Boyfriend. 

Yeah, he really liked the sound of that. 


	2. Boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was their kind of perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It can out the best it could and I'm shit as summaries.

It’s the first day of sophomore year and Eddie was over at Richie’s house. They had about two hours until the first bell rang, plenty of time thanks to Eddie’s new skills of lying straight to his mother’s face about wanting to go to school early. Sure sometimes he couldn’t help but feel a little bit bad about it but he also realized that feeling bad only got him to think about how disappointed she was going to be if she found out he was going to make out with Richie Tozier. 

She’s controlled plenty of his life long enough and now? Now it was time for a different change. Eddie was a whole lot more confident now after he let go of that weight on his shoulders to the rest of his friends and really fucking happy with Richie for the last two months. 

It was perfect. 

“So, how are you going to tell them?”

They were making out for a pretty long time thirty minutes ago. Eddie was sitting on top of Richie’s lap, a place that he found himself comfortable in after all the kissing practice Richie had given him. Richie was sprawled out on his bed and hands lazily behind his head as he looked up at Eddie with a smile. His glasses were on the nightstand close by his bed and even if Eddie insisted that he kept them on to see, Richie said he was fine with taking them off. 

Richie was asking him about how they were going to tell the rest of the group about their new more than friends relationship. Originally it was Eddie’s idea to do it for formality sake because Richie thought they somehow already knew. Richie invited him to do it and Eddie really was planning on doing it, but things just went by too fast. 

Two months too fast. 

“When we get to school before class, I’ll just say it, I hope you’ll be there with me?” 

“I might have to check with your mom about that first.” 

Richie broke off into a fit of giggles when Eddie lightly slapped his chest, “You’re so fucking gross, this is supposed to be serious!” 

Richie kept laughing and had that stupid grin on his face as he reached up to pinch Eddie’s cheek, “Oh Eds, my love, you’re even more of a cutie when you get all mad at me.” 

Eddie swatted Richie’s hand away and felt the heat going straight to his face as he desperately fought the urge to smile, “Shut the fuck up with that nickname, I hate it and this is supposed to be serious. We were supposed to do this two months ago but you just happen to be so damn distracting.” 

“I know you like it.” 

“Like what?” 

“When I’m distracting.” 

As much as Eddie wanted to say he hated it, there was a bigger part of Eddie that didn’t mind it too much. Eddie couldn’t really hold up the serious act as he felt a grin come to his face, “You’re such a dumbass.” 

Eddie felt Richie’s arms wrap around his waist and lightly pull him closer. They were close now and Richie was giving him that heart-eyed look with a small smile on his face, “I’m your dumbass.” 

“My cute dumbass.” 

“I’m not the cute one here.” 

“Am I really going to have to prove you wrong again? I will.” 

They were kissing again and when they eventually pulled away from each other, Eddie glanced at his watch. Somehow they had spent an hour and probably should start getting to school if they wanted to have enough time to tell the rest of the group. 

“I’ll be there with you.” 

Eddie had been so into looking at the time, he hadn’t noticed that Richie got his glasses and put them on. He is closer to sitting up now, still looking right at Eddie with a surprisingly serious look on his face. 

“What?”

Richie gave him a small shrug, “I think they already know about us but since this is something you feel like we should do, then we’ve got to do it together. I’ll back you up when you say it, hold your hand, even give you a smooch if you think that’ll make it perfectly clear that we’re not fucking around.” 

Richie told a lot of jokes, but he surely didn’t treat their relationship like a joke. Eddie felt an even brighter smile spread across his face before he hopped off of Richie’s lap, “Come on, we’ve got to get to school.” 

Richie fixed the collar of his overshirt that happened to have more shirts printed all over it, brushed out his white shirt and got his arms around Eddie who was trying to get his backpack. Eddie felt Richie’s lips on his neck, “We could always miss first period.” 

“I can’t ditch Richie and did you already forget that we have three periods together, including first?” 

They had three periods together, someone clearly must have been predicting they were going to be dating. 

Eddie felt Richie laugh against his neck and felt him press a butterfly kiss into his skin, “I can’t restrain myself for that long.” 

“It’s literally not that long Rich.” 

Eddie looked over his shoulder to see Richie giving him a pout, “I might die.” 

“You won’t die, stop being so fucking overdramatic.” 

Eddie felt himself blushing again but was laughing along with Richie in seconds. Eddie used to think Richie being so over-affectionate before they were dating was annoying, but as soon as this happened Eddie didn’t want him to stop. Richie was saying he was the one that was going to completely fall apart with Eddie, but Eddie honestly was going to completely miss out on most of the day because of invasive daydreams. 

Richie got his shoes on and probably would have said bye to his mom if she hadn’t left so early. They were outside in minutes got right to riding their bikes to school with full intention to make their relationship pretty obvious. 

The sun was out and the air was already starting to feel warm, perfect weather. The heat makes Eddie think about that same day that he told Richie everything, worrying that his best friend was going to look just as disgusted as his mother would be. Instead of losing his best friend, Eddie more than he could dream of.   
  


Love was a strong word, a really strong word. Eddie would have been careful about it at first, his mother always told him to be careful with that word and not to say it until things felt perfect. Eddie would actively only ever really run to patch up one certain person after they made the same dumbass mistake as two weeks ago. He’d only let one person call him stupid nicknames that he hated because somewhere deep down, he actually liked it. Eddie would only really want to kiss, hold hands, and do whatever it is that couples do with only one boy. 

Did Eddie love Richie? 

Yeah. Yeah, he did. 

Richie and Eddie both got to school pretty much just in time. As they both were putting their bikes in the rack, Eddie spotted the rest of the group coming over to both of them. Richie pushed up his glasses glancing over at Eddie with a smile, “Ready?” 

Eddie nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” 

Beverly was the first one to pull Eddie into a hug with a smile on her face, “You’re always so early and got here pretty close to the first bell which is a little weird, hopefully Richie’s not tainting you with his bad-boy ways.” 

Richie was greeting the rest of the boys and talking about their schedules but still seemed to hear what Beverly said. He looked back at the both of them with a flashy grin, “No way Eddie Spaghetti is too much of a good boy to even ditch. I should know, his mom told me last night in bed.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes and was pretty sure his face was red, “Stop calling me that you disgusting asshole.” 

“You’re so cute when you’re mad.” 

"And you're so annoying."

Richie stuck his tongue out at Eddie and gave him a sly wink, before talking with the rest of the boys about someone already getting caught smoking in the bathroom. Eddie looked at Beverly ready to tell her with a smile on his face, "Beverly?"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"There's kind of something I need to tell you about, I was meaning to do it over the summer but I kinda kept forgetting.” 

Sure Eddie was nervous, but he wasn’t going to chicken out of something that was just a few words. What was going on with Richie was serious and maybe they already knew, but Eddie just felt like he had to say something. He was going to say it, he really was, until he heard Stan loudly say, “Wait. You’re telling me you guys just started dating? Like two months ago?” 

Richie looked back at him with a grin and soon all eyes were on them both. Eddie’s face was hot as he nodded, “Yeah. Just started dating.” 

Richie reached for his hand and interlocked their fingers with that bright grin on his face, “Eddie’s always been a cutie, but now he’s officially my cutie.” 

There was silence before everyone suddenly broke out into smiles. Stan rolled his eyes as he shook his head, “Clearly I was the only right one here when I suspected that you not only had a thing for guys but that you both were dating.” 

Mike looked back at Stan confused before looking back at them, “That’s definitely not true, we all thought you were dating.” 

“Y-You a-always had the l-look.” 

“Oh yeah. The heart eye look.” 

Beverly nodded along with the rest of the boys, “We all definitely had a pretty good idea that you both were dating or at least crushing insanely on each other. So it’s not too much of a shocker but thanks for telling us, Eddie and Richie. You guys are a match made in heaven.” 

Richie pulled him in for a kiss and the whole group started whistling. They would have stayed to talk more if the first bell hadn’t rung.

“The first bell, go to class lovebirds.” 

The group was already walking towards the school clearly giggling, leaving Eddie and Richie in the same spot. Richie pulled away with a grin and pink on his cheeks, “For the first time in a while, I’m excited to go to class.” 

“Shut up, you don’t even like English, Biology or Math. You’re just going to copy off me the whole time.” 

“Oh my love, you know me so well. You know it’s not for ill intention, you just have a better handle on the shit they give us.” 

Eddie knew Richie could get A’s on tests if he just really focused. Maybe he’d let Richie copy off him a lot this year, but Eddie would also do all he could to tutor him just as hard. He gave his hand a squeeze and looked up at him with a reassuring smile, “You can too Richie.” 

“Maybe. I think I can only manage since I’ve got the best fucking teacher in the world.” 

They both were grinning at each other as Eddie pulled Richie down for a short kiss. They were close when Richie whispered, “I know it’s kinda early to say it, but I do love you Eddie Spaghetti.” 

Eddie both hated and loved that stupid nickname. Maybe it was a little too early for other people, but it didn’t really that way to Eddie. He felt that perfection his mother talked about, that whole feeling when he was right there with Richie. Eddie was sure of his feelings and he clearly saw that Richie meant every word. 

His eyes burned with a good kind of tears and there was a smile on his face, “I love you too Richie.” 

“Please don’t cry, I hate it when you do that.” 

“Shut up, I’m not crying. I’m just happy. Really, really happy.” 

Richie gave him another smile as bright as the summer sun, “Me too Eddie Spaghetti.” 

As they started walking off to class, Eddie couldn’t help but somehow feel ready for the school year a lot more than before. Eddie hadn’t had a panic attack since getting with Richie and somehow felt a whole lot more confident. Richie still didn’t talk about his feelings too much with most of the group, but he was opening up a lot more to Eddie when things weren’t always so happy. 

Things were great, but there were obviously going to be times when they weren’t. 

Richie was going to get a lot of detentions for talking back to teachers and pulling dumbass pranks. Eddie was going to have a panic attack at some point about an exam that he might not pass, never being prepared to see how disappointed his mom was going to be. There were going to be bullies that Richie was going to fight back against and there would be injuries that Eddie would have to patch up. There were going to be days when Richie would isolate himself, anxiously smoking a cigarette behind the bleachers. Eddie was the only one that was going to be able to get him to come back to their friends with a smile back on his face. 

It’s not perfect, they’re not perfect, but who really was? 

Eddie wanted Richie, Richie wanted Eddie, and they were living their own version of a perfect life. 

**Author's Note:**

> It happened.


End file.
